Personnel Hygiene Monitoring / Swab Testing

 

Researches in the domain of Food Contamination show that over 80% of the contamination of regular daily food is attributed to the poor Personal Hygiene levels of the Kitchen Staff and the Food handlers. In such a scenario, majority of the microbial contaminants enter the Food Chain through the Food Handling Staff.

Prime reasons behind such problems are as follows:
1)      Lack of knowledge of Importance of Personal Hygiene in Food Safety.
2)      Ignorance and Negligence of the Food Manufacturers and their staff.
3)      Improper and Irregular Hand Washing and Hand Sanitization Practices.
4)      Lack of knowledge of the appropriate procedures of Hand Washing and Hand Sanitization.
5)      Improper kitchen layout, leading to touching unhygienic parts of the kitchen during Food Processing.
6)      Low levels of Personal Hygiene Monitoring, Certification and Documentation.
7)      Contamination through Food Handlers who are carrying diseases and micro organisms.

Regular monitoring of Personal Hygiene of the Food Handlers with Hand Hygiene Swabs is required to verify effective hand washing techniques and thus reduce the risk of cross contamination in the kitchen.
As a general measure of containing Cross Contamination of Food by the hands of the Food Handlers, in many Food Manufacturing Units the Food Handlers are made to wear gloves. Gloves spread the contamination the same way the hands do. In this case, it is important to take swabs from the gloves to verify that the staff are not working with contaminated gloves and are changing frequently or whenever contaminated.

Food safety mess

Author(s): 

Avimuktesh Bhardwaj 

Traders say Food Safety and Standards Act rolls out red carpet for multinationals

Photos: Sayantan Bera
The Food Safety and Standards Act (FSSA) of 2006 has not gone down well with food business operators. They say sections of the Act dealing with licensing, registration, hygiene standards, penalty provisions and powers of food safety inspectors are “draconian”.
FSSA, which came into force in August last year, replaces the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act (PFA) of 1954. It has set one-year deadline for those engaged in food business to obtain a new licence.
In early May, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) held a conference to launch a nationwide signature campaign to address the problems pertaining to the Act. The conditions laid down in the Act are impossible to achieve by the domestic trade and commerce sectors, says Praveen Khandelwal, secretary general of CAIT. “It would endanger the local players and lay the red carpet for multinationals,” he adds.
The Act says vendors should wash utensils under running tap water
Under the Act, all food business operators with an annual turnover of more than Rs 12 lakh need to obtain a licence, while the others have to get registered. According to S Rethinavelu, senior president, Tamil Nadu Chamber of Commerce and Industries, much has been left to the discretionary powers of the designated officers. “Traders have to rely on them to get their licences, which is tantamount to inviting corruption,” he says. D V Malhan, executive secretary, All India Food Processors’ Association, however, is optimistic. “FSSA has a few problems but that happens with most of the new Acts. We are in touch with the authorities and hope they will take corrective action.”
The uninformed
While the National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI) has welcomed the Act, it has some reservations. “Registration of street vendors and small traders under the Act will help them run their businesses legally and this should be done at the earliest,” says Vinod Simon, programme manager, NASVI. The worry is that this could become a tool to harass the vendors, he says.
The process of registration has been slow in most parts of the country. This is of concern, especially, to the small traders and street vendors. If they fail to get registered before the August 5 deadline, they will be forced to shut shops till they get registered. There are about 10 million street vendors in the country. What’s more worrying is that many street vendors are not aware of the deadline at all. A survey of 50 street vendors close to Batra Hospital in south Delhi by Down To Earth found that none of them knew they had to get registered.
The deadline may not be sufficient for the big operators as well. Though CAIT could not put a number to those who will be affected by the deadline, they are demanding an extension.

Twisted demands Some of the provisions in the food safety Act are ambiguous Traders will have to rely on designated officers to obtain licences or get registered Misbranded, adulterated and substandard food have been tagged adulterated Manufacturers have to buy raw material from only licensed or registered vendors

Food safety commissioner of Maharashtra Mahesh Zagade, however, expects the licensing process will be completed on time. He says 160,000 food business operators have already been given licences in Maharashtra.
Where it hurts more
There are many in the unorganised sector who will be caught in a tight spot. FSSA has made it mandatory for all types of edible oil to be sold packed, labelled and marked as per the specifications in the Act. It says no licence will be issued to a manufacturer of vegetable or edible oil unless he has his own laboratory for testing samples. The Act does not explain how big the laboratory should be or what instruments it should have. FSSA thus seals the chances of survival of the unorganised edible oil industry. As per the Ministry of Food Processing Industries, about 90 per cent of the total mustard oil produced comes from the unorganised sector in the country.
The other bone of contention is the hygiene criteria. “Shops and food stalls can be kept clean just like we keep our homes clean,” says H G Koshia, food safety commissioner, Gujarat. Though it makes perfect sense for such a provision to be introduced what is hurting the small traders and street vendors are some of the illogical and impractical demands in FSSA. For instance, the site where food is manufactured, processed or handled should be in “a sanitary place, free from filthy surroundings and shall maintain overall hygienic environment. All new units shall be set up away from environmentally polluted area”. The condition does not define “environmentally polluted area”, but if left to interpretation it could mean a bus station, railway platform or on the roadside which almost covers all the places where the street vendor could set his shop. Then, in order to get registered, the vendors have to ensure that their utensils are cleaned and washed under “running tap water”. “We want to provide hygienic food but water supply is not in our hands and it is unlikely that we will get any support from the administration,” says Simon.
Unlike PFA, the new Act clubs misbranded, adulterated and sub-standard food under the category of adulterated. The traders say misbranding and adulteration are two different issues and should be dealt separately.
For example, a juice seller uses fruits and vegetables as his raw material. These could get contaminated by pesticides and affect the final product. “The manufacturers and traders alone cannot be held responsible for it,” says Khandelwal. Similarly, if a biscuit packet has been misbranded, the manufacturers should be held accountable and not the traders. “Adulteration is a heinous crime and it cannot be treated on a par with misbranding,” adds Khandelwal. The maximum penalty for manufacturing, storing, selling or importing misbranded and sub-standard food is Rs 3 lakh and Rs 5 lakh, respectively. “No distinction has been made between the seller and the manufacturer. It is unlikely for a trader to be aware of the quality of a packaged product he is selling,” points out Khandelwal.
FSSA states that a penalty of Rs 5 lakh would be imposed if the article sold is not of the quality demanded by the purchaser and is to his prejudice. The vendors, including temporary stall owners, will be fined up to Rs 25,000 for the same act. The vendors say the penalty is too harsh and depends on the whim of food safety inspectors.
FSSA allows manufacturers to purchase raw material from only licenced or registered vendors. This will favour middlemen and eliminate the possibility of buying directly from the farmers. “The cost of getting raw material and finished goods tested by accredited laboratories will make products costly for manufacturers vis-à-vis big industrial houses,” says Khandelwal.
Zagade has denied getting any complaint on the provisions on hygiene or punishment in Maharashtra.

Adjudicating Officer Udh imposes fine of Rs.10,000

UDHAMPUR, June 15: To keep a strict vigil on the quality of eatables, a team of Food Safety Officers under the personal supervision of Designated Officer of Food Safety Act of district Udhampur conducted surprise check of different establishments dealing with food articles and destroyed adulterated milk at different locations enroute Tikri to Udhampur here on Thursday.

Designated Officer, Kavinder Choudhary accompanied by Food safety officers Bharat Bushan and ZulfiKar Ali Malik conducted surprise checks at different milk vending points like Garhi, Rahmbal and Chopra Shop of the district and checked the quality of milk, samples of food items were also lifted from different shops and were dispatched to the concerned quarters for testing purpose.

During their visit, the officers also educated the people about the Food Safety and Standard Act and asked them to cooperate with the department by providing necessary information about the violators so that defaulters can be dealt under the provision Act.

Earlier, Adjudicating Officer, Additional Deputy Commissioner, Udhampur, Rajinder Singh has imposed a fine to the tune of Rs.10,000 on a supplier namely Kulbushan Gupta for supplying substandard biscuits to the ICDS Centers of Udhampur under the Act.

Maharashtra to ban gutka, paan masala soon

A week after senior NCP leader and deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar said so, the state government is all set to ban gutka and paan masala across Maharashtra. It has been observed that consumption of such tobacco products is the main cause of oral cancer.

According to a senior public health bureaucrat, the government will invoke the provisions of the landmark Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, to ban the products. "Under the act, the food safety commissioner has all powers to ban gutka and paan masala. But since this will be a major policy decision, it will be brought to the notice of chief minister Prithviraj Chavan and also Pawar. We are sure we will be able to enforce the ban as early as possible," he said.

Elaborating on the provisions of the act, the bureaucrat said that under section 30, the food safety commissioner has the powers to prohibit--in the interest of public health--the manufacture, storage, distribution and sale of any article of food either in the whole of the state or a part for a period not exceeding one year. But the act has a provision, called rule 2.3.4, according to which tobacco and nicotine should not be used as ingredients in any food products. This essentially means that tobacco products can be banned.

The bureaucrat said that in the wake of a protest lodged by anti-tobacco activists and also Ajit Pawar's commitment, a comprehensive proposal to ban gutka and pan masala had been submitted to the government. "It is the responsibility of the food safety commissioner to enforce the ban in letter and spirit. Once the proposal is approved, all measures will be taken to prevent the sale of gutka and pan masala across the state."

On the financial implications of the decision, the bureaucrat said that the state garnered well over Rs 100 crore by way of sales tax on gutka and pan masala.

A decade ago, the government had invoked provisions of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954, to ban the two products on similar grounds. Subsequently, more than a dozen manufacturers of the products had shifted their units to neighbouring states. A section of manufacturers had even challenged the ban in the Bombay high court and the Supreme Court.

Now that this act has been repealed, and a new law has come into force (on August 5, 2011) it has been proposed to invoke it to ban gutka. "We have carefully studied the ban order promulgated by Madhya Pradesh and Kerala. We will ensure that there are no loopholes in our proposal," the bureaucrat said. "Simultaneously, we will study the observation of the apex court, which has made it clear that tobacco and nicotine shall not be used as ingredients in any food products. Our information is that the court has stated that gukta and pan masala are food products."

Unpotable water at govt-run institutions

GUWAHATI, June 15 – A research conducted by voluntary association Jeevan Initiative has found that drinking water supplied in various government-run institutions in Guwahati are not at all safe for consumption. Of the 10 water samples collected from vital institutions, including two hospitals and three educational institutions, all the samples were found far below the prescribed standards.
The samples collected from Guwahati Railway Station, Assam State Transport Corporation (ASTC) canteen at Paltan Bazar, Inter-state Bus Terminus (ISBT) canteen, Gauhati Medical College Hospital, Mahendra Mohan Choudhury Hospital, Srimanta Sankardeva Kalakshetra, Latasil Primary School, Guwahati Blind High School, Gauhati University Arts canteen and the court premises of District and Session Judge, Kamrup failed the bacteriological tests conducted by State Public Health Laboratory, Guwahati.
Addressing media persons here, Suresh Ranjan Goduka, editor of the Jeevan magazine said that the water sample tests clearly point out that the provisions of Food Safety and Standards Act 2006 are not being followed in the State. “It is more disturbing that even the patients and students, including the visually challenged students, are being served polluted water,” he added.
In all the water samples tested, high presence of E Coli and Coliform bacteria have been detected which in enough to declare the water unfit for consumption. According to World Health Organization both the bacteria should be totally absent in drinking water.
In drinking water samples collected from ASTC, presence of E Coli was 2,400 MPN/100 ml, which was 1,100 in Railway Station and Blind High School, 240 in University, 150 in ISBT, 44 in District and Sessions Court premises, 43 in GMC Hospital, 21 in Latasil Primary School, 17 in MMCH and 4 in Kalakshetra. The presence of Coliform was very high in the water samples.
Asking the authorities to take the responsibility of serving non-polluted water to the people, the organization members said that a copy of the lab reports would be soon submitted to the State government.
The video footage of the sources from where the water samples were collected were also shown in the press conference.
Samples collected from drinking water facilities of ASTC canteen, Railway Station, MMCH, and court premises were found to be chemically unsatisfactory. The turbidity in water level was also very high.
“The people have already lost faith on the drinking water supplied by the government. Even in the government meetings and functions, packaged drinking water is served to the guests, which indicates that even the government representatives do not trust their drinking water facility. But, it is an injustice to those who cannot afford packaged drinking water,” he added.
Educationist Dr Anil Kr Goswami released the 19-page report prepared by the organization on the lab tests of water samples.

Chinese dairy maker Yili recalls baby formula tainted with mercury

BEIJING: Chinese dairy maker Yili said it had started recalling batches of baby formula after authorities found they contained high levels of mercury, in the latest food safety scare to hit the country.

The company began the recall on Wednesday after a national food safety monitoring system detected "abnormal" levels of mercury in the products, state-owned Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group said in a statement.

The recall covers baby formula produced from November 2011 to May 2012, according to the statement posted Thursday.

The firm did not state how much baby formula was affected or how mercury - which is extremely toxic and can harm the brain, heart, kidneys, lungs, and immune system at high exposure - made its way into the products.

China's quality watchdog said Thursday it had carried out an "urgent monitoring" of 715 samples of baby formula by various producers following the Yili case, but so far no other products were found to be unsafe.

However, authorities were unable to collect samples from 20 firms because they had suspended production of baby formula, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) said in a statement.

It was unclear when they stopped production and whether this was linked to the mercury scare.

Currently, 119 companies in China manufacture baby formula, state media cited Ma Chunliang, an official with AQSIQ, as saying last month.

China's dairy industry is prone to safety scares.

In 2008, milk was at the centre of one of China's biggest food safety scandals when the industrial chemical melamine was found to have been illegally added to dairy products to give the appearance of higher protein content.

Since then, many Chinese people remain suspicious of domestically produced milk after six children died and 300,000 others fell ill in the scandal, which also involved Yili products.

Critics say the hygiene standards that China's dairy farms must adhere to are among the world's lowest, with the levels of bacteria permissible in milk four times as high as in most Western countries.

There have been accusations that the government, keen to ensure China's growing demand for milk is catered to, is giving in to an increasingly powerful dairy industry dominated by Yili and another dairy giant Mengniu.

Yili shares were down by the maximum 10 per cent daily limit at 21.85 yuan ($3.4) in Shanghai on midday Thursday, bucking the rising trend in the broader market.